At last, here is a beautiful new book from Lou Lipsitz, one of the great, clear voices of the Vietnam War era. The early work was much admired for its crystalline imagery, concision, and tonal freshness; the new poems combine all of this with deep reflection upon the ways in which we are known and unknown to ourselves.

A grave serenity attends the poems in Lou Lipsitz’s If This World Falls Apart. Like an archeologist of the heart, Lipsitz examines those obdurate fragments the past tosses ‘into the shattered / treasure house of another day,’ and reassembles them with a clear-eyed, buoyant affection. This book is a gift.
– Gary Young

Lou Lipsitz is the author of Cold Water, Reflections on Samson, and Seeking the Hook. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.